48 HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 



The line of the forehead is a little convex; the eye is very 

 lively and expressive ; the iris being generally brown or 

 yellowish, and the pupil large and oblong, as in other graz- 

 ing animals. There are no sinuses or openings under the 

 orbits of the eyes, as there are in most of the deer and 

 antelopes, neither is there any muzzle, the naked part being 

 confined to a small space between the nostrils : the ears 

 are narrow and rather rounded at the tips ; the tail is short, 

 usually naked on the under side, and frequently carried 

 erect. In almost all the species the males have a long 

 beard ; and even in such as have the body covered with 

 comparatively short hair, that on the throat and dew- 

 lap is long. The hair of goats is not coarse, but it is very 

 strong, smooth, and straight in the staple ; and in almost 

 all the species there is a fine woolly down among the roots 

 of the longer hair. This down, where it is in considerable 

 quantity, is of great value in the arts ; and indeed the whole 

 covering of the goat is remarkable for its durability. The 

 legs of goats are much stouter in proportion than those of 

 the antelope. They are furnished with a callous append- 

 age at the joint, and the hoofs are high and solid. The 

 females have two mammae forming an udder in the groin ; 

 they go five months with young ; the female is capable of 

 propagating at seven months old ; and the birth usually 

 consists of two kids, which are perhaps the most sportive 

 of all young animals. The male does not come to perfect 

 maturity until the expiration of a year ; and then a single 

 male is sufficient for a flock of a hundred females. At five 

 or six the male is reckoned old ; but the full life of the goat 

 may be estimated at about fifteen years. At all times, but 

 more especially during the rutting season, he-goats emit a 

 peculiar smell, to which the name ofhircine has been given, 

 from the word hircus, a he-goat. In the rutting season the 

 males follow the habit of all gregarious animals, in battling 

 keenly with each other for the possession of the femnles; 



